Wollongong High School in Its Early Days
Augu-.t. 1974 Illawarra Hi\torical Society Bulletin WOLLONGONG HIGH SCHOOL IN ITS EARLY DAYS: The writer's secondary ~chooling sat astride the four year segment before and after Wollongong High School was born, and also coincided ''ith the 1914-1918 World War. Prior to 1917 secondary education on the South Coast was provided b\ \\hat was known as Wollongong District School, which was housed in fi~;e rooms of the Smith Street Primary School with an enrolment of less than two hundred and a staff of eight. The headmaster was in charge of both schools, and we mixed in the corridors and playground with the primary school pupils. Fifty years ago Wollongong had four each of doctors, dentists, chem ists, solicitors and barbers; buses were yet to appear and public transport '"as catered for by Beattie's coaches, drawn by two horses, which met all trains and delivered passengers as far afield as Cliff Road and Smith's Hill. Primary schools south of Wollongong from which pupils were eligible for secondary education included the one-teacher schools at Tomerong, Huskisson, Falls Creek, Nowra Hill, Pyree, Terara, Bolong, Bomaderry, Cambewarra, Mcroo, Jasper's Brush, Toolijooa, Far Mcadow, Foxground, Omega, Jcrrara, Bombo, Dunmore, Minnamurra, Croom, Tullimbar, Ton garra, Marshall Mount, Avondale, Wongawilli, Berkeley, West Dapto and !>C\'Cral others hard to recall. Having two or more teachers were schools at Nowra, Berry, Gerrin gong, Kiama, Shellharbour, Albion Park, Dapto, Unanderra, Port Kembla, .\fount Kembla and Kciraville. North of Wollongong the narrow strip between mountain and sea, a non-farming community with population clustered in mining towns strung along the railway, made the one-man school a rarity, and places such as Fairy Meadow, Balgownie, Corrimal, Bellambi, Bulli and places to the north each possessed schools with several teachers.
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